This was the first Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon to spend 30 months in oak casks. It is an intriguing wine with a muted bouquet that is attractive, but hardly inspirational. However, in the mouth the wine is superb, exhibiting far greater richness, intensity, and complexity than the shy, backward aromatics suggest. The youthful, opaque dark purple color is followed by a restrained nose (due to sterile filtration?), and a pure, rich, intense wine with adequate acidity, moderate tannin, and layers of ripe, highly-extracted fruit in the finish. Although approachable, the 1987 is far from mature, making one wonder if it will ever be very expressive from an aromatic point of view. Nevertheless, it is an impressive Cabernet Sauvignon that should last for another 15-20 years.

Made during the period when Tony Soter arrived at Shafer and began to insist on making the wines by using their olfactory and palate more than harvesting grapes by numbers and looking for fixed formulas and specific total acids and pHs / alcohol levels, the 1987 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select reveals attractive red and blackcurrant fruit, sweet cherry, loamy soil and a touch of toasty oak notes in a medium-bodied style. With gentle tannins and a lush finish, it is by no means a great Hillside Select, but it is very good.